Friday I actually managed to drag my
lazy ass out of bed at 6 a.m. and hit the treadmill in the hotel's
exercise room. It's a really nice place; the treadmills even have
little TVs with cable on them. There were some guys already working
out, which was kind of annoying as I like to work out in privacy
(since I probably look like a moron doing it) but was also good,
because when there are other people there you don't want to look like
a pussy so you try harder.
Then I hauled myself upstairs and put
on Friday's costume: Athena, complete with laurel leaves and owl. The
owl was a burrowing owl puppet by Folkmanis (burrowing owls = not
native to Greece, but he look liked an Athenian owl). I just tucked
his legs into the hand-pocket and safety-pinned him on. He stayed up
surprisingly well. I discovered two things during the 14 or so hours
I wore this costume:
- If you want people to like you, just pin a stuffed animal to your shoulder
Seriously, walking
along, people kept glancing at me and smiling. I thought, “Wow,
people really like Greek mythology!” Then I realized they weren't
smiling at me- they were smiling at the owl! Every time I stopped for
a picture the photographer commented on my owl. Kids loved it. I
heard one girl say, “She has an owl! I want an owl!!” (sorry
parents, I didn't mean to). So if you're kind of socially awkward and
want to make friends, pin a stuffed animal to your shoulder and you
will instantly be Mr/Ms Popular.
- Corsets, worn for 14 Hours, Hurt Like Hell and Leave Marks for Days
Although my friend
Kim, who is well acquainted with corsets, told me that quality ones
with steels stays don't do this. Guess I better shell out next year
for a real one. Also, I've complained about women wearing corsets
before, so I will only say this once: back panels, ladies. They do
exist. And also if your breasts are hitched up so high that if you
look down you would suffocate, you might want to reconsider how tight
you have that thing cinched.
My first panel was
9 a.m., Mano-a-Mano. This
could have been about gay sex in fiction, or fighting, and it turned
out to be about fighting. Ah, well. It was very entertaining and
pretty helpful for someone like me who sucks at writing action. Next
I had a panel about Alexander the Great (speaking of gay sex...).
This panel was a bit of an ordeal to find. I didn't know there were
actually two Marriott hotels connected to the ICC (TWO? Overkill a
bit?) and so ended up in the wrong one. I had to cross a parking
garage to get to the correct one, and then ask for help finding the
room. I know the most popular events will be held in the
highest-traffic areas (and I am grateful the writing panels are!) but
I actually skipped a couple panels later in the weekend because I
didn't want to have to track them down in one of the hotels. I don't
blame Gen Con; I need to be more proactive about finding where things
are, I suppose.
I checked on the Husband in the gaming hall (he was playing some sort
of massive 100 hour Battletech game) and wandered the Dealers' Room,
picking up two books from Chaosium (weird tales of Arthur Machen
volumes 1 and 2; I am grateful to Chaosium for keeping a lot of
awesome stuff in print, but I only pick up their stuff at cons
because I have heard stories about the difficulties of actually
receiving the things you order from them).
I
hit my next panel, the Structure of Scenes, around 1. And here is
something about the Writers' Symposium that I noticed this year: a
lot of the panels I attended had the same panelists as last year, and
several were on the same subjects I saw last year. I really like the
authors, so no quarrel there, but I didn't feel this year like I was
learning much that I didn't learn last year. Not all the panels were
the same, of course, and I enjoyed them regardless, but much of the
advice given is aimed at new authors. I certainly don't believe I
can't learn anything new; as a writer I am always learning and
improving. But 'new author advice' is something I've already heard
quite a bit. Next year I would like to see more panels aimed at
specific genres: horror writing, taboos in various genres, the use of
folklore in fantasy etc. But that's a suggestion to send to the
Symposium director...
I grabbed lunch at Subway, knowing I wouldn't have another chance to
eat that day, ate in on a bench next to a man who kept checking his
phone (and didn't smile at my owl. Strange). Also ran into a Deadpool in the dealers' room. Luckily he didn't talk nearly as much as the real one.
I spent more time people-watching, and skipped a panel called Ghost
Ships (a shame as I love ghost ships!) because it was in a hotel I
had never even heard of before- later I found it was the Crowne
Plaza, about a block from the ICC. I will know for next year!
My last Friday panel was another Read & Critique. It was run by
the same crew who ran my Friday R&C last year- all friends (two
are even married) who have no problem squabbling over their opinions.
Luckily, they are always entertaining. I ended up being the last to
read, was not quite ripped apart, and got some very good publishing
advice from the group, which I really appreciated as at this point it
was nearly 10:30 p.m. and we were all running on fumes.
I met up with the Husband, realized I was hungry, realized further
that nothing was open (Husband had eaten out with some friends and
regaled me with stories of a motorcycle rally that was happening on
the same weekend, including ladies serving at a bar in their undies
to a crowd of bikers- sorry I missed that). I settled for a
hot chocolate from the Starbucks in the JW Marriott. We also checked the progress of Cardhalla.
I watched part of a Law & Order episode (told you- ALWAYS
ON) and crashed my aching, corset-marked body into the comfy
Courtyard bed.
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